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We've heard from hiring managers that since LinkedIn endorsements are public and not contextualized, it's hard to understand endorsers' motivation and honesty.
by kerryxwang 8y ago
We've heard from hiring managers that since LinkedIn endorsements are public and not contextualized, it's hard to understand endorsers' motivation and honesty. Searchlight references are private (hidden to the candidate but viewable to employers that candidates give permission to), tied to a specific work experience and specific work relationship, and ask specific questions.
Regarding our landing page, that's a great point! We are a candidate driven product, but we are first focused on employer adoption. That adds legitimacy to our platform when Searchlight reaches out to candidates. In the future, we plan to allow candidates to initiate the Searchlight process themselves - we have already gotten requests from current Searchlight candidates to build this feature.
I hear your hesitation to provide references early. It's a new hiring approach. But we've seen that with our positive messaging and candidate engagement process, candidates see Searchlight as an opportunity to stand out. We try to minimize the burden on candidates and references by saving the answers so references don't have to do it again. As our credibility grows over time, we hope that everyone will feel comfortable making a Searchlight profile.
- abraae 8y agoSome day you may want to look into the impact of privacy legislation such as GDPR when it comes to your position of "Searchlight references are private (hidden to the candidate but viewable to employers that candidates give permission to)". IANAL, but I have spent many unpleasant days reviewing GDPR and I think it's likely that such data is the candidate's personal data and they are allowed to see it.
- annawangx 8y agoThank you for the pointer!
- Godel_unicode 8y agoCame here to say this; don't try to operate in the EU.
- Frenum 8y agoCalifornia has its own version of the GDPR known as the CCPA that is probably more immediately relevant. https://www.oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa https://www.oag.ca.gov/privacy/ccpa Also, I'd imagine there would be a huge defamation liability.
- TheOperator 8y agoWhat measures do you have to prevent a candidate and their reference from collaborating and sharing information resulting in the linkedin status quo? Why can't I just say to a reference to give me access to their searchlight account and write my own? Why can't I say to somebody "Hey, I'll write my endorsement, you can write yours, and we will post eachothers endorsements on our own account" Furthermore how do you distinguish between a high quality endorser giving accurate information about candidates and a low-quality endorser trading favors to bolster their own number of endorsements? Currently on linkedin I can see somebodies endorsements which can raise red flags about them "trading favors". How will searchlight provide a similar ability to scrutinize endorsers?
- Alexbouaziz1 8y agoIsn't that just a game of numbers? The more references the more legitimacy - I'm not sure one could ask favors from that many relevant and impactful references
- annawangx 8y agoGreat question. We get the referencer’s contact information, their position and work title, and require that they agree to a follow up with employers. We are developing features for real time identity verification, like 2-step auth with work emails. The experience and knowledge of the referencer factors into how we calculate the strength of the recommendation.
- coredog64 8y agoWhen writing recommendations, I prefer it if the subject writes the first draft. I won’t lie, but that way they can choose what they want to emphasize or deemphasize.